Horticulture apparatus

ABSTRACT

A horticulture apparatus for handling plants within a greenhouse, or the like, in which the plants and containers are loaded upon pallets which in turn are loaded upon wheeled carts and moved to supporting racks within a greenhouse. The pallets are then transferred from the carts to the racks. The carts and racks each have parallel roller tracks spaced at a predetermined distance for the pallets to roll upon. The pallets each have cylindrical runners on the bottom thereof in parallel spaced relationship to ride in the parallel spaced tracks of the carts. The pallets can be easily slid from the carts to the support racks and back onto the carts and the carts also have a locking system for preventing the pallets from rolling off the cart tracks during movement of the carts and the cart and rack tracks have arcuate end portions for aligning the pallets when shifting the carts therebetween. The cart frame may also be divided with the top part and cart tracks for the runners to slide in so that a more precise alignment can be had between the cart pallet tracks and the support rack tracks. The carts are made to be spaced uniformly with a plurality of carts pulled by a single vehicle which can stop at marked points for unloading a plurality of pallets onto a plurality of spaced and marked off support racks for each stop of the towing vehicle.

United States Patent [1 1 Faircloth et a1.

[451 Oct. 21, 1975 1 HORTICULTURE APPARATUS [73] Assignee: Green ThumbCorporation,

Apopka, Fla.

[22] Filed: June 15, 1973 [21] App1.No.: 370,391

[52] US. Cl. 214/38 BB; 47/17; 104/48;

193/35 R; 214/38 D; 214/84; 214/515 [51] Int. Cl. 13656 67/02 [58] Fieldof Search 214/38 B, 38 BA, 38 BB,

214/38 D, 84,152, 515, 516, 517,16 B; 193/35 R, 35 C; 47/17; 104/48Primary ExaminerRobert G. Sheridan Attorney, Agent, or FirmDuckworth,Hobby & Allen [57] ABSTRACT A horticulture apparatus for handling plantswithin a greenhouse, or the like, in which the plants and containers areloaded upon pallets which in turn are loaded upon wheeled carts andmoved to supporting racks within a greenhouse. The pallets are thentransferred from the carts to the racks. The carts and racks each haveparallel roller tracks spaced at a predetermined distance for thepallets to roll upon. The pallets each have cylindrical runners on thebottom thereofin parallel spaced relationship to ride in the parallelspaced tracks of the carts. The pallets can be easily slid from thecarts to the support racks and back onto the carts and the carts alsohave a locking system for preventing the pallets from rolling off thecart tracks during movement of the carts and the cart and rack trackshave arcuate end portions for aligning the pallets when shifting thecarts therebetween. The cart frame may also be divided with the top partand cart tracks for the runners to slide in so that a more precisealignment can be had between the cart pallet tracks and the support racktracks. The carts are made to be spaced uniformly with a plurality ofcarts pulled by a single vehicle which can stop at marked points forunloading a plurality of pallets onto a plurality of spaced and markedoff support racks for each stop of the towing vehicle.

5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures U.S. Patent Oct. 21, 1975 Sheet 1 Of33,913,758

FIG.2

U.S. Patent 0a. 21, 1975 Sheet 2 of3 3 913 758 I/ll & FIG. '4

US. Patent Oct. 21, 1975 Sheet 3 of3 3,913,758

HORTICULTURE APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present inventionrelates to a horticulture system for transplanting potted plants, or thelike, being rooted or grown from seeds in greenhouses in which theplants and containers are loaded onto pallets which are loaded ontospecially built carts transported to specially built racks where thepallets can be pushed from the carts onto the rack or, alternatively,from the racks back onto the carts by a single operator.

In the past it has been common to provide a great variety of systems forthe operation of greenhouses, as well as a great variety of pallethandling systems. One frequently used system handles loaded pallets witha forked lift truck which can lift, transport and place pallets inpredtermined locations and can stack the pallets and racks one over theother.

The horticulture system of the present type uses a greenhouse andincludes the planting of seeds sown in flat containers or cuttings fromfoliage plants potted in separate pots which are grown in thegreenhouses until rooted or sprouted. In the case of seeds, the seedsare sown in flat containers either automatically or manually. The flatcontainers are placed on pallets already placed on carts; and the cartsare moved to the racks within the greenhouse in which the seeds are leftto sprout. When the seeds are sprouted, the racks are moved to atransplanting or dibbling area.

In the case of foliage plants, cuttings are placed in individual flowerpots or containers filled with soil. The individual pots are then placedon the trays; and the trays are placed upon pallets located on top ofcarts. The carts are moved with the pallets to the growing racks withinthe greenhouse and are placed on the racks. Once the cuttings arerooted, which normally takes 2 to weeks, the pallets are loaded back onthe carts and moved to the packing area. In the case. of larger pottedplants, the pots are carried directly on the pallets rather than placedin trays on the pallets.

There have been numerous suggestions in the past for handling palletsloaded with various types of plants and especially in mushrooms whereconveyors or carts move groups of plants to a growing area.

One typical apparatus for cultivating plants may be seen in U.S. Pat.No. 3,717,953 in which plants such as mushrooms are positioned inreceptacles which are stacked from movable carts for processing. Anothersuch system may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 1,753,980 which is a means forutilizing the waste space in hothouses and uses carts riding on a railsystem; And in U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,318, a transfer pallet system isillustrated in which pallets are moved through a series of work stationsin which pallets may be transferred perpendicular or to each workstation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a system for thetransportation of plants on pallets loaded upon carts to and from palletsupport racks precisely laid out on a level hard floor in a greenhouseor other growing area. The carts and support racks each have a pair ofroller tracks and the pallets each have a pair of runners adapted toride in the tracks. The pallets riding on the runners can be easilypushed on the track rollers from the carts to the supporting racks inthe greenhouses and back from the racks onto the carts. The cart has awheeled frame and spaced parallel tracks having oil impregnated woodenrollers with metal sleeves on the bottom and guides on the sides whichsupport pallets having parallel cylindrical rails attached to the bottomthereof for riding on the cart track rollers. The pallets can be slidout from either side of the carts. The pallet support racks located inthe greenhouses area have a supporting frame supporting pairs ofparallel tracks having rollers on the bottom thereof spaced identicalwith the spacing of the tracks on the cart and also at the same heightso that the carts can be aligned with the support racks and the palletsslid from one to the other. The tracks have guides for the palletrunners which have arcuate shaped ends so that the pallet will becaptured even with slight misalignment when moving from the carts to thesupport racks or from the support racks back to the carts and the cartshave a locking system for holding the pallets on the carts andtransporting the pallets thereon which can be quickly moved by slidingthe pallets off the carts. Since the support racks for the pallets areprecisely laid out, each rack is adapted to hold a plurality of palletsand the carts are spaced precisely between each other. A towing vehiclecan pull a plurality of carts each having one loaded pallet thereon andcan be stopped at marked points on the floor or walls of the growingarea so that all of the carts simultaneously line up with a plurality ofsupport racks and the driver can quickly load or unload the carts byshoving each pallet onto the support rack or from the support rack ontothe cart. The carts have a frame divided into two sections, the topsection attached to a pair of rails which rides upon roller trackson'the bottom section so that further alignment of the cart and racktracks can be accomplished. The two sections are locked together and thepallets held on the carts by actuation of a single locking mechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Other objects, features and advantages ofthis invention will be apparent from a study of the written descriptionand the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cart, support rack and pallet inalignment with the pallet being transferred from the cart to the supportrack;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a cart supportrack and pallet illustrated with a pallet loaded onto the support rack;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the plurality of aligned carts alignedwith a plurality of pallet support racks and loaded with pallets;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a portion of a track and palletillustrating the operation of the pallet rail riding over the rollers ofthe track; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a portion of a cart illustrating amodified embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2,a wheeled cart [0 is seen parked next to a pallet support rack l I andhaving a pallet 12 passing from the cart 10 to the rack 11. Pallet 12 isloaded with containers 13 having planting pots l4 filled with soil andcontaining plants 15 therein. The containers 13 are setting upon thebottom of the pallet 16 which may be steel wire connected to a weldedsteel frame 17. A pair of cylindrical runners 18 may be galvanized steelpipe, or the like, connected to the bottom of the pallet 12 such as bywelding to the frame 17 and are parallel and separated by apredetermined distance. The runners 18 are separated to ride on a pairof tracks 20 of the racks 11 and a pair of tracks attached to the cartso that the pair of tracks are attached parallel to each other atsubstantially the same distance that separates the runners 18 and thetracks 21 are attached parallel at the same distance as the tracks 20 ofthe rails 18. Cart 10 has a frame 22 having wheels 23 attached theretoand a tongue 24 which can be attached to a towing vehicle to pull theframe 22 on wheels 23. Frame 22 is built to have the tracks 21 at thesame height as the tracks 20 but slight adjustments can be made byvarying the tire pressure in the tires 23 or by shimming up or otherwisevarying the height of the tracks 20. Tracks 21 include a pair of guidemembers 25 which may be angle iron, or the like, welded to the frame 22and has a plurality of wooden rollers 26 which may be a hard woodimpregnated with oil, having steel sleeves for ridingupon stainlesssteel shafts connected between the guide members. The guide members 25have arcuate or curved ends 27 at each end of the tracks 21. The cart 10has axles 28 that connects the wheels 23 to the frame and in additionhas pallet locking bars 30 which includes an elongated bar portion 31held in sleeves 32 to the track 21 and having a pair of swingable upwardextending arms 33 so that when the arms 33 extend upward, in the uprightposition they prevent pallet 12 from sliding off the cart 10 when thecart is being moved between locations. The pair of arms 33 areinterconnected and located on either side of the cart 10 and allow thearms to be raised or lowered from either side of the cart so that thepallet can be slid ofi of the rail 21 from either side. The arms areheld in their up or down position by means of attached U-shaped bar 34which acts in connection with a spring 36 so that the arms can be swungforward to move them out of the way but are held in position by spring36. A bar 35 has a sleeve at one end connected to U-shaped bar 34 andslides through a hole in a bracket 39 (FIG. 5) to lock two portions ofthe frame 22 together in the embodiments of FIGS. 2 and 5, as will bedescribed in more detail hereafter. The arms 33 can be pulled up andheld in position by spring 36 applied to member 34 which applies atorque to the bar 31 pulling bar 34 against track 21 which acts as astop. In FIG. 1 cart 10 has a single welded frame 22 attached to theaxles 28. In FIG. 2, frame 22 has lower frame members 19 which includesa pair of parallel tracks connected between axles 28 of the cart 10 andincludes rollers 9 (FIG. 5) attached to the bottom thereon for rails toride on. Tracks 19 are similar to the tracks 20 or 21 and have rollersriding on steel shafts. The upper frame portion 29 has a pair of steelrunners or rails welded to the remainder of the frame which supports thetracks 21 so that the tracks 21 and frame portion 29 can be moved shortdistances on the tracks 19 for making greater alignments between thetracks 21 and the tracks 20 for the pallet 12. The two frame portions 19and 29 are held together when the cart is being moved between locationsby the lifting of the locking mechanism 30 which allows the bar 35 toslide into an opening in the bracket 39 to lock the two frame memberstogether and is automatically released upon lowering the arm 33 andraising the locking bar 35 as the U shaped member 34 is rotated. Thislatter feature of shifting one portion of tht cart relative to thesecond portion is not always necessary but allows less skilled driversto be able to quickly position the pallets if the towing vehicle doesnot stop on the precise marked space,

The pallet support racks 11 have frame members 40 having a base member41 and support brackets 42 with the base member 41 interconnecting pairsof the frame members 40 to fix the distance between the parallel tracks20; and have wooden rollers 43 which are the same as the wooden rollers26 and which ride on steel shafts attached to pairs of guide members 44which have arcuate ends 45.

FIG. 1 illustrates the cart 10 having its tracks 21 aligned with thetracks 20 of the pallet support racks 11 and the pallet 12 being pushedon the cart to the racks 11, with FIG. 2 having the pallets l2completely upon the support racks 11 and the stop bars 33 pulled up intotheir locking position. Thus, in operation, the cart 10 is loaded with apallet 12 having the containers l3 and 14 loaded thereupon by slidingthe pallet 12, runners 18 over the tracks 21 rollers 26. The lockingsystem 30 is pulled up to hold the pallet 12 upon the cart 10 and thetongue 24 of the cart is connected to a towing vehicle or to anothercart which is connected to a towing vehicle which then pulls the cart orcarts through the greenhouse into the location that the cuttings 15 areto be rooted, at which time the towing vehicle stops at a market pointwhich automatically aligns the cart or carts 10, tracks 21 with thetracks 20 and the safety locking mechanism 30 has the arms 33 pusheddown out of the way by the driver of the vehicle who then can give eachpallet 12 a shove so that the runners 18 will ride over the rollers 26and onto the track 20, rollers 43, and continue rolling on the tracks 20until they reach a stopping point against the end of the tracks 20 oragainst another pallet 12 that has been loaded on the racks 11. It willbe observed that tracks 10 are built so that with tongues 24 mayseparate the carts 10 at a predetermined distance from the towingvehicle or a predetermined distance between a plurality of carts so thata plurality of carts will line up simultaneously with a plurality ofsupporting racks 11. When the plants 15 are routed, the empty carts 10can be again aligned with the tracks 20 of the racks l1 and a supportingpallet 12 from the tracks 20 onto the tracks 21 and the locking arms 20pulled up into a locking position. The arcuate ends 27 on tracks 21, and45 on tracks 20, allow the runners 18 to pass from tracks 20 to tracks21 or from tracks 21 to tracks 20 even with slight misalignments in thatthe arcuate surfaces 27 will engage the ends of the runners 18 and guidethem onto the track between the guide members 25 of track 21, or 44 oftrack 20.

In normal operation, the containers 14 are filled with soil and havecuttings or seeds inserted into the soil and are loaded upon pallets 12where they are moved into a greenhouse or a covered area where they arewatered and maintained until the rooting is completed at which time theyare moved on the carts 10 into the loading area, at which time theplants 15 in their containers 13 are transferred from the pallet 12.

Referring now to FIG. 3, the system is illustrated in operation having aplurality of carts 10 interconnected and lining up with a plurality ofcart support racks 11 and containing a plurality of pallets 12 loadedwith plants 15. Each cart 10 has wheels 23 along with a frame 22 andparallel tracks 21. Each rack 11 has a pair of parallel tracks 20 havingwooden rollers 43 riding on steel shafts 45 connected between pairs ofguide members 44. The tracks 20 are attached to frame members 20 whichare attached to the bases 41 and allows the pallet 12, cylindricalrunners 18 to ride on the rollers 43 while being maintained on the trackby the guides 44. The runners 18 are connected to the frame 17 which canbe welded angle iron having a heavy steel wire bottom 16 welded orotherwise attached to the frame 17. The runners 18 could be welded tothe frame 17 and thereby provide additional support for the pallets butat any rate the pallets must be of sufficient rigidity to maintain thealignment of the parallel runners 18. The bases 41 of the racks 11 setupon a flooring 46 which must be sufficiently level and smooth thattracks 20 will maintain substantially the same height as the tracks 21.Thus the tracks on the carts along with the racks 1], tracks 20 must bemaintained at substantially the same height and substantially parallelat the same predetermined distance between the parallel tracks. Theguide members 44 and the rollers 43 are sufficiently wide enough toallow for minor variation in I the separation of the tracks. It shouldbe noted that the internal guide rails of the tracks could be eliminatedwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention inasmuch asthe outer guide rails would still maintain the runners 18 in position.The distance between carts is maintained by the rigid construction ofthe carts and the exact distance maintained therebetween by tongues 24in order for the entire system to operate. The floor 46 must bereasonably level and all of the racks ll placed in predeterminedalignment with each other and with markings on the floor as illustratedby the arrow in FIG. 3 but which could also be made on post 47 so thatstopping the towing truck will align all of the carts 10 with racks 11.

FIG. 4 more clearly illustrates the track 20 having a pair of guides 44which may be made of angled iron providing a welding surface for thebottom and a guide surface with the other angle which may have rollers43 mounted therebetween on steel shafts as can be seen in FIG. 3. Therunners or rails 18 on the pallets 12 may be seen attached to the frame17 which also may be welded angle iron if desired, and the bottom of thepallet 16 may be heavy gauge steel wire welded to the frame. Steel wireallows excess water from watering of the plants to flow through thepallet onto the floor where it can run off or evaporate and for air toflow up from beneath the plants to enhance growth. Runners 18 aregalvanized steel cylindrical pipe but could of fourse be of differentshapes and materials, as desired. Plants are supported in the plantgrowing containers 14 which are in turn in containers 13 which may holda plurality of plants on the bottom 19 of the pallet 12. Each container13 can hold a plurality of plants therein for easy movement onto and offthe pallet in loading or unloading operations. FIG. 4 also illustratesthe rollers 43 as having an oil impregnated hardwood 61 encased orpartially encased in a steel sleeve 50. The sleeve 50 can be pressfitted and on the wood roller and can be made of materials other thansteel, if desired. The oil impregnated wood 51 eliminates the need forbearings and lubrication and the steel sleeve 50 provides a long wearingsurface.

FIG. 5 more clearly illustrates the operation of the locking mechanism30 having a pair of arms 33 connected by bar 3] which has a U-shapedsection 34 therein and rides in sleeves 32 attached to the tracks 21.The mechanism is shown in dark lines in its pulled down position withlight lines illustrating its swinging into an upright position. Spring36 is connected to the U bar 34 and holds the arms 33 in an uprightposition which would be its normal position. The arm 33 may be pusheddown from either side of the cart 10 and held down while the operatorslides the pallet off the track 21; then the arm may be released and itwill swing back up in its upright position. The bar 35 is connected tothe U-shaped member 34 by a sleeve and swings down into an opening in aplate 39 which locks the upper frame portion 29 to the rails 19. This isidentical with the embodiment of FIG. 2 and has the wheels 23 connectedto the axle 28. This embodiment differs slightly in that an arcuatesupport frame member 52 is connected to the upper frame portion 29 andhas upright members 53 and is used to provide the cart with additionalsupport against tilting when the loaded pallets are being moved off thecart and onto the support racks. One of the rollers 9 can also be seenin this view as having a metal sleeve covering the wooden roller whichis rotatably attached to a shaft which is in turn attached to the tracks19.

it should be clear at this point that an apparatus and method forhandling plants in greenhouses or other horticulture operations has beenprovided. This invention is not to be construed as limited to theparticular forms disclosed herein since these are to be regarded asillustrative rather than restrictive.

I claim:

1. A greenhouse transporting system comprising in combination:

a. a cart having a frame; wheels connected to said frame for said frameto roll on; a pair of tracks in parallel spaced relationship with eachother and fixedly attached to said frame; each said track having rollersthereon and at least one guide member;

b. a pallet for loading plant containers upon, said pallet having a pairof runners attached thereto in parallel spaced relationship with eachother by a distance to ride upon said rollers on said cart tracks;

c. a pallet support rack having a supporting frame and having a pair oftracks in parallel spaced relationship with each other, each trackhaving rollers thereon and at least one guide member and being spacedfrom said pallet runners to ride upon the rollers thereon; and

d. said cart frame having a first portion slidable on a second portionfor aligning said cart roller track with said rack roller tracks;whereby a cart can have its tracks aligned with said support rack tracksand said pallets pushed from said cart to said rack and from said rackto said cart.

2. The transporting system in accordance with claim 1 in which said carthas a pallet locking means attached to said frame for holding a palleton said cart while being transported on said cart and said locking meansbeing disengageable for removing said pallet from said cart.

3. The transporting system in accordance with claim 2 in which saidpallet locking system has a pair of swinging arms movable to a positionon either side of said cart to block said pallets from rolling on saidroller tracks.

4. The transporting system in accordance with claim 3 in which cartrolling tracks are open at each end whereby said pallet can be moved offeither side of said cart.

5. The transporting system in accordance with claim 1 in which said cartroller track guides and said support roller track guides each havecurved ends to guide slightly misaligned palltlts from one to the other.

1. A greenhouse transporting system comprising in combination: a. a carthaving a frame; wheels connected to said frame for said frame to rollon; a pair of tracks in parallel spaced relationship with each other andfixedly attached to said frame; each said track having rollers thereonand at least one guide member; b. a pallet for loading plant containersupon, said pallet having a pair of runners attached thereto in parallelspaced relationship with each other by a distance to ride upon saidrollers on said cart tracks; c. a pallet support rack having asupporting frame and having a pair of tracks in parallel spacedrelationship with each other, each track having rollers thereon and atleast one guide member and being spaced from said pallet runners to rideupon the rollers thereon; and d. said cart frame having a first portionslidable on a second portion for aligning said cart roller track withsaid rack roller tracks; whereby a cart can have its tracks aligned withsaid support rack tracks and said pallets pushed from said cart to saidrack and from said rack to said cart.
 2. The transporting system inaccordance with claim 1 in which said cart has a pallet locking meansattached to said frame for holding a pallet on said cart while beingtransported on said cart and said locking means being disengageable forremoving said pallet from said cart.
 3. The transporting system inaccordance with claim 2 in which said pallet locking system has a pairof swinging arms movable to a position on either side of said cart toblock said pallets from rolling on said roller tracks.
 4. Thetransporting system in accordance with claim 3 in which cart rollingtracks are open at each end whereby said pallet can be moved off eitherside of said cart.
 5. The transporting system in accordance with claim 1in which said cart roller track guides and said support roller trackguides each have curved ends to guide slightly misaligned pallets fromone to the other.